


Secrets in the Shadows

by Ethereal_Wings



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Color Blindness, Happy Ending, Homophobic Language, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-29
Updated: 2015-05-29
Packaged: 2018-04-01 02:44:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4002844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethereal_Wings/pseuds/Ethereal_Wings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve admits his feelings, Bucky acts on his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secrets in the Shadows

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the similarities between the Stark Expo scene in Captain America: The First Avenger and my story, this isn't going to be exactly like the movie. Also I have no idea if inhalers were used during in the 1920s-1940s, I tried doing a bit of research but I couldn't find any straightforward answers, so bare with me on this. *Edited to make it a bit easier to read*

"C'mon, Stevie, one date with the gal won't kill you." The bigger of the two argued.

"No, it won't, but I hate when you set me up with these nice girls, who you and I both know, will not be interested in someone like me."

"What do you mean 'someone like me'? You're a great guy."

"Maybe to you, but they won't care about my great personality." Steve crossed his arms. "To them, I'm scrawny, stubborn, and have piles of health concerns that nobody wants to deal with."

"Aw, Steve," Bucky's gaze softened. "You're selling yourself short, you really are a great catch."

"Yeah? Well I'm only saying the truth." The blond sighed.

"Than the truth couldn't be more wrong." Bucky stared at Steve with a fierce passion that could have easily been mistaken for something more intimate, yet, Bucky has had deeper feelings for the shorter man. He just wasn't ready to admit that out loud, though, he didn't want to jeopardize their friendship. In the meantime, double dates with Steve will have to suffice.

"Thanks for the words of encouragement, Buck, I suppose I could go on this date, as long as you don't ignore me the whole time."

"Never." The brunette gave him a smile.

"Hey Bucky!" Two girls waved their arms at the boys.

Bucky greeted the slightly shorter girl with a kiss on the cheek, the girl was a little over 5'3, had short, brown hair with a matching pair of dark, brown eyes. She was pretty, had dainty features. The other girl was taller, 5'4, at least, and had long, blond hair, she was pretty as well, but Steve didn't want to go on this date with her. He had someone else in mind, someone with shorter hair, a more masculine build, whose nickname rhymed with lucky.

The two girls chatted with Bucky, even Steve's 'date' didn't introduce herself. How rude. Walking the block to the Stark Expo went quickly, Steve spent the majority of the time staring at the piece of red fuzz stuck on top of Bucky's hat. When they stopped to wait in line to get into the Stark Expo, Steve took the opportunity to take it off.

"Don't move, Bucky, you've got something on your hat." Steve stepped forward, stood on his toes, leaned close to his best friend's face, and plucked the foreign object off. Steve should've moved back, but he didn't. He stayed there for a few moments too long, staring into his eyes, despite his color-blindness, Steve knew Bucky's eyes were the most beautiful shade of blue. _God_ , he was gorgeous.

"Steve?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?" Bucky had an unreadable expression on his face, it was that moment Steve realized how close he was to his face and how long he's stayed there, fuzz still pinched between fingers.

Steve stepped back and awkwardly attempted to redeem himself. "You had this on your hat," the fuzz floated away with the breeze. Unfazed, he smiled, "thanks, punk."

"Jerk." The blond instantly replied, relieved at the lack of uncomfortable atmosphere between the two. The two girls, however, glanced at each other and raised an eyebrow.

It was stunning inside Stark Expo, bright and had a futuristic feeling to it. The two girls, Steve later learned their names were Connie and Bonnie, chatted excitedly to each other, pointing at all the displays, lights, and machines. Steve fell into step with Bucky, "gorgeous, ain't it." Bucky pondered.

"Yeah," _a close second to you_.

"Something wrong with Bonnie? You haven't said more than a hello to her."

"No, I just don't want to be here with her." They all came to a stop while Connie and Bonnie looked at some exhibit featuring a figure in a red suit.

Bucky turned to face Steve, "who'd you want to be here with?"

"What?"

"You said you didn't want to be here with her, who do you want to be here with?" Bucky's voice sounded surprisingly sharp and his arms were crossed.

"Jeez, Buck, I didn't mean any offense to the gal or anything," Steve took a step back, his friend looked incredibly intimidating when he was angry and had his uniform on.

"You're avoiding my question."

"You don't know 'em." The blond tried to brush it off, but Bucky wasn't having any of that, he glanced at the sign in front of the display. _Synthetic Man_. 

Bucky suddenly looked hurt. "We're friends, _best_ friends. We've always told each other everything, whether it being something silly and light, or serious and heavy, and you decide to hide something as simple as a crush?"

Steve felt horrible, he knew Bucky wouldn't just guilt trip him, he was actually wounded at the fact that Steve didn't mention this. But, Steve couldn't just say that he's had a crush on him for the longest time, Bucky would be disgusted. So the half-truth would have to do for now. Steve said it low enough so no one would overhear, yet said it too low for Bucky to hear as well.

"What did you say?"

Steve repeated it, still too low.

"Can you repeat that a bit louder?"

Steve was getting irritated, "It's a guy, that's why I didn't tell you!" A few people turned to look in confusion, thankfully, none seemed to understand the context of what he meant.

Bucky's face went blank, "you like men?"

"I think so, I mean the person I like happens to be a man, so I guess so." Steve was starting to get uneasy by how quiet and stoic Bucky had become, he was probably in shock and as soon as he comes to his senses he's going to leave and never come back. Steve knew this was it, it wasn't all his medical problem that would make Bucky leave, it was his sexuality. Steve looked down at the concrete, dull colors blending together through his tears. What would he do without Bucky?

He liked guys. Bucky couldn't believe his own ears, couldn't believe his luck. He was so shocked and elated that he didn't notice the way Steve fumbled with his fingers and was staring at the ground. When he did his heart dropped, Steve probably interpreted Bucky's silent happiness as something worse.

"Steve-"

Something, or rather someone, interrupted with a shrill, "Bucky!"

He turned and saw Connie waving him over, "please stay right here." He told Steve.

"C'mon, we're gonna miss Stark's car show."

"How about you head over there and we'll meet you there, okay?"

"Alright."

Bucky immediately walked away to avoid getting a kiss from her. Not that she wasn't cute or anything, Bucky had someone else on his mind at the moment, though. When he returned back at the spot he had left Steve, his friend wasn't there anymore.

"God damn it, Steve." He mumbled to himself, walking to the one place he knew Steve would be, the art gallery.

Faded hues of paint adorned the aged canvas, so what if Steve couldn't quite distinguish which were browns and which were greens, it was a great piece of art. A landscape painting, a river with rocks crossing it, lush trees, flowers sprouting on the riverbank. He wished he was home, sketching, instead of being here, waiting for the inevitable end of Bucky and Steve's friendship, clearly, it wouldn't take long for Bucky to find him.

"That's a beautiful painting." _Speak of the devil and he shall appear_. "We need to talk, Steve."

"Okay, talk."

" _Privately_." Bucky placed a hand on his lower back and guided him away from the painting, leading him in the shadows behind the art gallery, the night making it seem darker, more sinister, Steve was sure he was going to get beat up for his gender preference.

"Okay, you like men, correct?"

"Yeah, and if you don't want to be around me anymore, that's your problem." Steve snapped, the sudden bout of anger shocked both of them.

"Take it easy, punk, I was just gong to say, your confession wasn't a good enough excuse to avoid my main question. Who did you want to bring here tonight?"

It's like all the blood in Steve's body went cold, like he was emerged in iced water, his eyes widened, "I can't, no, Bucky I _can't_ ," Steve's breath started coming out in short wheezes. Bucky rushed forward to grope around Steve's jacket for his inhaler. Two puffs later, his airways were slowly opening up, both of them were on the ground leaning against the building now.

For a while they sat next to each other not saying a word, Steve's ragged breaths returning to normal, the faint voices of happy friends and family, and the wind softly blowing leaves around was the only noise. Up until Steve spoke softly, "you. I wanted to bring you here, Buck. Just you and me." The blond felt a mental weight lift from him, all of a sudden he felt this whole ordeal was stupid and could have easily been avoided if he had just said something.

"Are you serious?" Bucky looked at him with astonishment.

"As a heart attack."

"I wish you would've told me sooner."

"Why?"

"So I could do this." Bucky leaned forward and pressed his lips to Steve's. Sweet and innocent quickly became rough and passionate, Bucky pulled his smaller friend onto his lap, their lips moved in sync and Steve was holding on to the back of Bucky's neck for support. When a certain brunette's hand traveled down to Steve's lower back and pulled him forward so their bodies were pressed together, he gasped and Bucky took advantage, he slid his tongue inside and coaxed Steve's tongue to come forth. Steve felt like he was floating on air, he decided this was the best feeling ever, to be wrapped in Bucky's arms, tangled tongues, and the warmth radiating from the both of them.

Steve pulled back to collect more air, and rested his head in the crook of Bucky's neck. "So," Steve's voice mellow, "where does this leave us?"

"How about I take you dancing and improvise from there?" The vibrations from Steve's human pillow made him snuggle into it further, arms enveloped him and Steve responded in a delighted daze.

"It's a date."

**Author's Note:**

> The painting I had in mind is this one: http://i4.minus.com/ibxo90T3U00bay.jpg  
> The artist is Rene Charles Edmond, very talented fellow he was.  
> And let's pretend Connie and Bonnie lived happily ever after together.


End file.
